BecAndKyle.com

I have been doing a lot of engineering lately. Here is my latest power plant design:

It’s an adaptation of a design from Richard Scary:

It’s weather month in the Branch room. Here, I’m creating a cumulonimbus cloud and a rain storm with shaving cream:

Last weekend, we cut down a tree. This weekend, we planted one:

The tree. A 22′ Bowhall Maple:

Easter basket:

Keepin’ the peace and huntin’ eggs:

I started refinishing the Adirondack chairs this weekend:

I let Mom help:

Later, I traded in my stain brush for something smaller:

Easter dinner was Meyer lemon spring grain salad with asparagus, almonds, and goat cheese:

Two pounds of shrimp. The Bigs each got four shrimp:

And, a yellow layer cake with chocolate frosting (from Cheryl’s cookbook):

Memory. I cheat.

Painting a cloud with glitter glue and shaving cream. The end result = puffy, shimmery cloud.

Look at me painting with BINGO markers, Grandma Marie.

I like to help. I’ll help Mom if I have to. Here I am building a second composter for her.

But I prefer to help Dad. Here I am helping him solder lab kits to mail to his students. They will use these to do their electronics class remotely.

And, this weekend I helped him take down a dead tree.

The Bigs were very happy to not hit any fruit trees, houses, or cars.

Dad finished my bike ramp this weekend. If you look closely at my front wheel, you’ll guess how this ended.

I got back on the saddle again though.

We ate well this week. We have, so far, made 37 recipes from the cookbook Aunt Cheryl sent, and they have all been delicious! Crispy orange seitan:

Dolsot Bibimbap, Korean rice bowl:

Shiitake pizza with cashew ricotta:

Drop biscuits:

Blueberry muffins:

Wheat sourdough bread:

We match:

Going to school with Puppy 1:

A bit of immersion blendering

to make our Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup:

Doing some maths at my desk with newly-installed tall legs:

Springtime tree pruning:

Heading out for a 6.5 mile bike ride, while the Bigs run. Check out my cool, mismatched space socks:

Making some brownies:

Fighting fires is no laughing matter:

Cleaning my room:

We started one of several planned construction projects this weekend. Mostly, I just supervise:

but occasionally, I get my hands dirty:

One half of my new ramp is complete:

Chili:

Brown Rice Burrito Bowl:

Brown Sushi Rice Bowl:

Liam the Leprechaun visited the Branch room this week. He came to our house too!

We celebrated with green smoothies for breakfast:

I was a busy guy this week. Landscaper:

chef:

artist:

and construction worker:

Even so, I still found time for some skiing:

I also found time for some eating. Udon noodles with spinach and shiitake ginger sauce:

Thai red curry with cauliflower:

Spicy basil noodles with crispy tofu, bok choy, and bell peppers:

This month in the Branch room, we are learning about rainbows and rhymes. Sometimes, I like to eat the rainbow:

Costumes continue. Smokey Bear:

Obi-wan Kenobi:

Conquering the warped wall at ninja training:

Check out my new poles:

Barley bowl with roasted carrots, snow peas, and tahini sauce:

Farro bowl with tofu, mushrooms, and miso-ginger sauce:

And, for Pi Day, French apple tart:

Skiing at Meissner on my ‘pine skis:

Lately I demand The Bigs provide me with a science experiment in the evening. One night we made volcanoes.

Another night, I learned about the law of the lever. I can’t move Dad…

until I adjust the lever arm ratio.

I like to spend most days in character. Here I am as Rocket Man:

Army man:

Teacher man:

Hadley came over to play. We are total imps.

The Bigs made more great new dishes. Red lentil soup with North African spices:

and a basmati rice bowl with spiced cauliflower and pomegranate.

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk…

A new session of ninja training started this week. I’m an old pro.

The warp wall is still giving me some trouble, though.

Check out this awesome shirt Uncle Chris sent. Best part? It will fit until I am 35.

I treated The Bigs to gelato this week. Just threw my gift card on the counter and told them to get whatever they wanted.

Friday night we decided to go ice skating. A 60+ degree day made the ice a little watery. We had to wait for it to freeze back up, so we decided to have dinner in the pub next to the skating rink. The chairs were old lift chairs. That was cool. The food was, eh.

Ice skating under a disco ball!

We stopped at a coffee shop this weekend. They had a lift chair too. Awesome!

The Bigs made lots of recipes from their new cookbook. Spicy peanut rice noodle bowl:

Pad thai:

Mac and cheese:

Breakfasts this weekend were smoothies and coffee cake, also from the new cookbook. Mixed-berry smoothie:

Sunday’s green smoothie had kale, banana, pineapple, and avocado:

Ready you are. Ride my chairlift you will.

Heading down Little Pine:

President’s Day. No Growing Tree. I went to work at the COLLEGE. I wore a tie so the students knew I meant business. Mom and I started the day off with a donut.

The Bigs had a Happy Thursday. Great turns on a gorgeous day at Bachelor.

Friday night we stopped at Laughing Planet for dinner. They have an awesome dinosaur collection.

And some pretty neat dishes. Moroccan Bowl: baked tempeh, harissa-braised veggies, apricot mint couscous, and cherry apple chutney.

Harvest Bowl: quinoa, black beans, yams, sautéed kale, tempeh, avocado, cilantro-lime slaw, and pumpkin seeds.

On Saturday we tried hard to get the elusive rainbow chair on Rainbow lift. We missed it by one!

After skiing, I hit the playground for a little extra exercise.

A good ninja never stops pushing the limits.

Sometimes this makes The Bigs break.

Uncle Chris sent me this awesome Beastie Boy album.

I LOVED their outfits on the cover, so I dressed like a Beastie Boy on Saturday and made The Bigs listen to the album over and over.

We had some company at breakfast this morning. Chewbacca wanted some of my waffles, but I did not share.

Great Auntie Cheryl sent us a new cookbook. The Bigs have been busy making recipes. Waffles:

Pancakes:

Dark chocolate cupcakes:

With camouflage frosting, of course (I was dissatisfied with the execution, but I kept it to myself):

My new favorite song is ‘No Sleep Till Brooklyn’ by the Beastie Boys. As you’ll see, it is very appropriate.

Cordy-Roy had a rough week. I put splints on his ear and paw, but his heart still sounds bad.

More NINJA training.

I take Valentine’s Day almost as seriously as ninja training. I signed 21 cards (actually 25, Mom didn’t like my signature on a few, so she made me re-sign them).

I made special Valentines for my teachers.

We had Emmett’s pasta for Valentine’s Day dinner. YUM YUM YUM.

The doctor told Mom – no more coffee. Here is her matcha latte. Yes, it is GREEN.

More pictures from ninja class? Wrong! I had The Bigs bring me for a post-skiing ninja session. I had some moves to perfect.

New variation on waffle breakfast.

Skiing in the 100 Acre Wood.

It’s steep, and yes, the first three times I screamed and hollered all the way down, but I kept insisting on going back, and by the end of the day – it was easy as pie.

Another week, one step closer to becoming a ninja. Army crawling:

Climbing the net:

Eleni came to ninja training this week – I showed her the ropes:

It was Luminaria weekend at Meissner, so they built a giant snow dragon:

After all that dragon play, I was feeling a bit 11 o’clockish, so we stepped into the shelter for a little smackeral of something. (Yes, we just recently finished both Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner.)

After some skiing on my own, I decided to hitch a ride back to the car:

where I turned back into Owl (remember we are reading Winnie the Pooh), and had some lunch:

After a few hours at home, we headed back to Meissner for the Luminaria ski, and more dragon play:

Having a little beef broth to warm me up:

Not only Luminaria, but also a full moon:

Blinded by the iPhone flash:

If the whole ninja thing doesn’t work out, at least I’ll have my jedi skills to fall back on (Mom, on the other hand, should not quit her day job):

This weekend’s breakfast. The only thing better than avocado toast is avocado waffles:

Lots of ice fell from the sky this week:

Post-ski gelato:

The Bigs are cooking; it’s time to get down to business: